What is Reasonable Suspicion in the Workplace?
Reasonable suspicion in the workplace is when there is a strong belief, including objective evidence, that an employee might be using drugs or alcohol on the job. Reasonable suspicion at work usually stems off clear signs such as slurred speech, erratic behavior or the smell of alcohol. Your company’s drug and alcohol policy should outline what happens next, whether that involves drug testing or disciplinary actions.
Do Companies Need a Reasonable Suspicion Policy?
In certain industries and positions, routine reasonable suspicion testing is a standard practice. These policies are particularly prevalent among federal employees and those in safety-sensitive roles to protect them from harm and ensure compliance. Many private employers choose to voluntarily adopt reasonable suspicion policies to ensure a secure and productive work environment for their employees, as workers under the influence can pose a safety hazard to themselves and others in the workplace. Additionally, certain states may have their own regulations surrounding reasonable suspicion practices, so keep this in mind when considering reasonable suspicion testing for an employee.
Dealing with Reasonable Suspicion at Work
When you have reasonable suspicion that an employee is under the influence of drugs or alcohol at work, you need to promptly make a documented record of it and conduct testing. Using a reasonable suspicion checklist can help you easily identify observations regarding concerning behaviors that violate your Drug and Alcohol-free Workplace Policy.
1. Acknowledge and address concerns or complaints
After receiving an employee complaint of any kind, the first step should always be to recognize the employee’s concerns and validate their experience. Simply confirm that you’ve heard them and show them that you take their concerns seriously and care for their safety at work.
2. Evaluate for immediate threats or hazards
After acknowledging the issue, assess the area for immediate threats to your employees. Is there anything that puts your employees’ safety or well-being at risk? Is the subject of reasonable suspicion throwing objects, verbally lashing out or causing physical harm to another coworker? If so, immediately stop the threat from committing further violence or disruption in the workspace.
3. Observe employee behavior
Next, you’ll need to monitor the subject for any behavior that falls under reasonable suspicion concerns. Familiarize yourself with the environment where the reasonable suspicion concern was raised and start collecting information. This includes physical observations such as slurred speech, lack of coordination or the smell of substances. These observations do not have to be purely physical either—they may include performance decline, consistently arriving late to work or changes in emotional demeanor, such as yelling at other employees or becoming easily agitated.
4. Record relevant observations
Documenting your observations is critical. Thorough employee records protect your company in the event of litigation and serve as a crucial reference if the issue escalates or continues.
HR Acuity’s Reasonable Suspicion Checklist template can help you easily document reasonable suspicion observations. Easily mark any physical and behavioral observations and note corroborating witness statements, the employee’s explanation and the action plan for handling the next steps.
5. Review and assess the situation
Following documentation, you should always go back and double check all the information. Is anything missing from your observations? Were there any inconsistencies in someone’s statements? These are just some of the questions you can ask yourself when analyzing the checklist to lead to a resolution of the issue.
6. Discuss with the employee
The next step is to schedule a private meeting with the employee to discuss the concerns about their behavior. Approach this conversation carefully to preserve an objective and beneficial outcome for the employee. Clearly explain your concerns regarding their wellbeing and allow them to share their perspective. If your observations reveal a need for further action, obtain the employee’s consent for drug testing.
7. Get consent for testing
In your meeting with the employee, make sure they fully understand your organization’s drug testing policies and the rationale for testing. Provide a thorough explanation of the drug testing process and obtain their written consent to conduct it. If the employee refuses drug testing, you may need to seek alternative action depending on your company’s drug policy or state legislation.
8. Send employee for testing
After an employee has provided consent, you must then organize testing at their nearest facility and identify if they require any accommodations during the testing process. To facilitate their transportation to the testing location, you may choose to share the testing facility’s location and directions, accompany them or arrange transportation.
9. Review test results
Upon receiving the test results, act quickly to review them and inform your next steps. These results must remain confidential; access should be strictly limited to authorized personnel to ensure compliance with employee privacy policies and regulations.
As you assess the findings, cross-reference company policies and the reasonable suspicion observations to accurately determine which violations occurred. Use the results to make a final decision and plan out your next course of action.
10. Identify appropriate course of action
Use the test results, observations and company policies to make a final decision and plan out the next steps. Different courses of action need to be taken for a positive or negative test result. In the case of a negative result, employment may continue as normal if not subjected to another test for a false negative according to your company’s policy. In the case of a positive result, the employee may be subject to further consequences based on your company’s drug policy, including possible termination of employment. These proceedings should, as always, be handled with the utmost care to ensure that the employee is aware of policies and guidelines that led to any decisions being made post-testing.
Reasonable Suspicion Example Scenarios
A supervisor/manager could handle a case of reasonable suspicion for drug/alcohol use in the following ways:
- The initial report/observation
- Dana is working at her desk when she notices that her co-worker, Kevin, still hasn’t come in yet 30 minutes after the workday has started. Kevin shows up 2 hours later, and Dana notices that his physical appearance is off. He was walking unsteadily, and breath and clothes smelled heavily of alcohol. As he began taking client’s calls, Dana also noticed that he was being very short with them, and even getting irritated throughout some of their conversations. Upon noticing these observations, Dana decides to go to her manager and report Kevin to be under reasonable suspicion of being under the influence.
- The supervisor’s response to the report and continued observation (note use of the checklist here)
- Her manager begins documenting Kevin’s reasonable suspicion using the Reasonable Suspicion Checklist template as a guide. She documents Kevin’s employee information and asks Dana for her corroborating witness statements, as well as the time of day these observations took place, and all the behavioral and physical manners Kevin displayed.
- Notification of the employee in question and the completion (or lack thereof) a testing consent form
- After gathering this information for the reasonable suspicion checklist, Dana’s manager calls HR to continue onto the Action Plan part of the checklist. The HR representative reviews the checklist against company policy on reasonable suspicion and decides that Kevin should undergo reasonable suspicion drug testing. The HR representative has a meeting with Kevin to discuss the report’s findings and asks for Kevin’s consent to undergo drug testing.
- Testing and results
- Kevin agrees to the testing and signs the consent form, and the HR representative sets up reliable transportation to a nearby facility.
- Next steps
- Kevin’s test came back with a positive result. According to this company’s drug policy, there is a zero-tolerance policy in place for drugs or drug-use in the workplace. The HR representative has a meeting with Kevin to discuss the company’s policy and the reasoning behind his termination.
Ensure Airtight Documentation with HR Acuity
If you or your organization have reasonable suspicion about an employee’s behavior, do not wait to act on it. A reasonable suspicion checklist can help you document your observations of the employee’s physical behavior, demeanor, witnesses and your action plan.
It’s so important to ensure our workplaces are safe and secure for all employees. Being well-equipped to address employee concerns, such as drug or alcohol use, is critical. HR Acuity’s HR case management and employee relations documentation solution provides you with consistent, repeatable processes to track all employee behaviors, document evidence and pinpoint recurring issues.
